Sheldon Adelson Plans $8 billion Casino Project in Rio de Janeiro

Brazil is cited so often as an ‘emerging’ market that it borders on cliche. It puts the B into the BRICS nations, and with its huge tourist industry and untapped resources protected by the difficulties of working in, under, and through the Amazon jungle, it is something of an Eldorado for foreign investors.

But not for the gambling industry. The highly conservative and largely Catholic nation outlawed games of chance for profit over seventy years ago. Right now that gambling ban is up for debate and the Brazillian congress are looking at legislation that would legalize gambling, hoping that the increased investment and tax revenues might do something for the national budget.

With the ink barely dry on the law’s draft, Sheldon Adelson – the US billionaire casino owner who never plays by the rules if he can change them – has been down there on a visit to see if he can sway a favorable outcome for the law.

He doesn’t come empty handed either, Games Magazine have reported that his Desert Sands corporation has already got three sites picked out and have been floating a suggestion of $8 billion as an initial investment. This would make it the Sands’ biggest country for investment after the US and Macau.

We can only speculate how much more he has promised in lobbying funds and donations. In the US elections he was very generous towards the Trump Campaign and gives a great deal of money to settlement charities like the Taglit Birthright Project which have been criticized for their political proselytising.

His visit has also provoked a great deal of speculation about just how quickly the bill might be moving. If Adelstein is already prepping for its outcome, maybe we’ll be able to enjoy riffling chips down in Copacabana sooner than expected.